


Happy Ever Afters

by adelaide_rain



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 14:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11969724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adelaide_rain/pseuds/adelaide_rain
Summary: Magnus is Taako’s best man.





	Happy Ever Afters

Magnus is Taako’s best man.

It was something of a surprise.

An honour, too, of course; Taako is a man of exquisite taste and high standards.

He’s also not someone who trusts easily. It's been more than three years since the Day of Story and Song but Lucretia wasn't invited to the wedding, and Lup’s soft pleading did nothing to change Taako’s mind.

But he trusts Magnus enough to be his best man, entrusting him with rings and the masses of organisation, with seating guests and herding the rest of the wedding party.

And to be here, a half hour before the ceremony, knocking softly on the door to his room in the grand hotel where they’re holding the wedding.

There's no sound from within, neither _come in_ nor _fuck off_.

Magnus waits a few moments, giving Taako time to make himself decent if needed, then pushes open the door.

Within, the room is an exquisite mess. 

It's the wedding suite, which Kravitz let Taako commandeer. The reaper may be a clothes horse extraordinaire but even he has nothing on Taako, and so let his fiancé have the bigger room.

Tall ceilings make the room spacious; details like a gilt chandelier and elegant coving on the ceiling make it grand. French windows lead out onto a balcony and let light spill into the room.

And everywhere, on every surface, are clothes or jewellery; makeup and brushes, hats and shawls and shoes. 

After spending months trying on dresses and suits and more besides, Taako failed to choose a single outfit to wear for the ceremony. Instead he brought a dozen, saying with a careless shrug that he'd decide on the day. 

There's been a lot of careless shrugs lately, on the lead up to the wedding, but Magnus knows Taako well enough to know it means cares too deeply.

Now he stands before a mirror in the simplest outfit he brought with him, a long sleeveless dress of cream lace that brushes the floor, and his hair is loose over his shoulders. His makeup is simple, too, a lightly smoky eye, a soft pink lip, golden nails. 

It's not what Magnus was expecting, but he looks beautiful.

In the mirror, Taako's gaze meets Magnus's, just for a moment, then darts away. He's looking at his reflection, but not at his eyes; not really looking at all, Magnus thinks.

Taako can be a fickle creature, he can be cruel; he can be capricious and shallow and condescending. Magnus wouldn't say that those things are a facade - they're definitely a part of him, Taako can be an A-grade asshole when he wants to. But there's so much more to him, even if Taako doesn't always believe that.

What is he thinking now, Magnus wonders as he walks into the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Looking closely, he sees Taako’s back is tense, his shoulders pulled back - he's not at ease, nothing about him is at ease. His ears are pricked, tall and high, and that's a tell more than anything else.

He wants to run.

He's _afraid._

Magnus stops where he is, away from the door so that Taako can still see his escape route - not that Magnus thinks he'll take it, but it'll put him at ease. 

Taako is still not-looking at his reflection, still silent, so Magnus speaks instead.

"It's perfectly normal to get cold feet before a wedding."

In the mirror, Taako's reflection smiles without warmth. "Did you?"

"No. But you're not me, Taako." He gives an easy shrug. "You think too much, for a start."

Taako laughs now, softly, little more than a breath. "Whereas you don't think at all."

"Magnus rushes in," he agrees, and goes to the dresser, running a hand over it, admiring the joints before leaning against it and looking back at his friend. "Taako, though - Taako's good out here, right? Is that what you're thinking about?"

"I'm selfish," he says, very quietly, and his hands curl into fists by his sides. Magnus pauses, expecting more, but he doesn't get it. So he pauses a little longer, considering his next words.

"You love Kravitz."

Taako's reflection meets his eyes again, brow furrowed. "Of course I do. That's not-" He stands a little straighter. "I love him so fucking much, Magnus. A stupid amount, a truly ridiculous amount. And I want- I want to keep on loving him, every day until I die and then fuck only knows what will happen after that, but-"

A pause, a long pause, that Taako doesn't appear to have any intention of ending. 

Magnus considers what to say.

"You proposed to him."

"I did."

"And he loves you. I think he loves you a little more every time he sees you."

A pause, then Taako licks his lips. "He does," he says, quietly, not as confident as he should be, because Kravitz is beyond smitten, he’s head over heels, and it's clear in every glance, every smile how much and how deeply he loves Taako.

"So why do you look like you want to bolt?"

"What if," Taako starts, and once he starts it's like a dam has been breached, panic-tinged words pouring out of him. "What if he changes his mind? What if I do? What if he falls for someone else, or what if he just realises what a hot mess I am because holy shit, Magnus, have you _met_ me? What if we just - fall out of love? I mean, we’re going to be married for a _long_ time – I'm an elf and he's immortal, we're talking centuries here. It's possible, and I-"

"You love him now,” Magnus says quickly, needing to stem the tide before it becomes a flood. “And he loves you. He's _good_ for you, Taako. You're a better person with him in your life."

Taako blinks, quickly, and lowers his head so that his hair hides his face. 

After a long moment he lifts it, tucking his hair behind his ears and giving a confident smirk that doesn't fool Magnus for a single second. "I'm a fucking _amazing_ person with or without him."

"Yeah. You are." He nods at the simple truth. "But he makes you happy. And finding someone that makes you smile the way he makes you smile - well. There's a reason you proposed to him."

"Of course there is - have you _seen_ the guy?" Taako says, a little real humour creeping into his voice, and Magnus grins at him. 

"I've seen him in his wedding tux, and - if I may - _damn,_ he's looking fine."

"Hands off. He's mine," Taako says, glancing over his shoulder to glare at him, and Magnus laughs, lifting both hands in surrender. 

"I know. That's what we're talking about, remember?"

Taako tuts, but his back is less tense, his ears a little lower, and after a moment he goes to the sofa and throws himself onto it with a loud sigh. He’s looking at Magnus without needing the mirror as a buffer, and Magnus is pretty sure that's a good sign. 

"I'm not good at commitment, as you may have noticed. I'm not an all-in kind of guy."

"And yet," Magnus says, and Taako looks at him.

"And yet. Here I am. Committing. Going all in. And here's the thing - I'm not even that scared. And that's what scares me. This feels _right_ , and that _terrifies_ me."

Magnus stares at him, but it does make sense, in a Taako-ish way. 

They're so used to things going wrong - a hundred years of things going wrong, no matter what they did - that it makes sense to be suspicious when things go right. 

It can't last, everything in you says, with a heavy, dragging certainty.

These people are dust, Taako said.

But now they're not.

And he's about to marry one of them.

"You deserve your happy ever after, Taako."

Taako looks at him for a long time, then reaches out a hand, wiggling his fingers, gesturing for Magnus to help him up.

When he does, Taako goes over to the mirror again, checking his reflection.

Magnus is expecting him to say he needs to change into something more exciting, more colourful, possibly with glitter and patterns, but instead he smooths down his plain, simple dress, and says,

"Do you regret anything about your wedding?"

Magnus blinks at him, surprised, then thinks back.

He smiles.

He smiles, and he remembers sitting with Julia at the top table, admiring their wedding rings as they glinted gold in the sunlight. He remembers her laughing softly, teasing, as his own best man ribbed him in his speech. Remembers dancing and holding her and feeling so grateful he could barely breathe. And he remembers Julia's smile, and her warmth as she leant against him at the end of the long night, and most of all he remembers how happy he was, that day and every day he had with her.

"I don't regret a single thing about my wedding or my marriage, Taako. And I don't think you will, either."

"Hmm," Taako says, combing his fingers through his hair, then turning to Magnus. "I think I _might_ regret it if I don't come with you, 'cause I'm guessing Lup is phase two in Operation Convince Taako Not to Run For the Hills."

"She is, and she won't be as nice as I am," Magnus says, and Taako snorts as he puts in long sapphire earrings; his _something blue_. "In all seriousness - if you really don't want to do this, if you've changed your mind, we'll stand by you."

"I know," he says, and walks over, and after a moment, he pulls him into a hug. It's not a Taako thing, not at all, but sometimes exceptions must be made, sometimes hugs are needed, and Magnus returns it tightly. Taako is warm in his arms, his hair is soft against his cheek, and he smells vanilla-y with darker, complex undertones. 

"You're sure?"

Taako pulls back, and smiles. "I'm sure. I love that dork like I've never loved anyone," he says, and then laughs as the tips of his ears turn pink, as they do when he tells the truth. "And! He's the only man I've ever met stylish enough for me, am I right?"

Magnus laughs too. "That you are, buddy."

From the dresser, Taako picks up a crown made of cream roses and peonies woven together, and puts it on his head, checking his reflection one last time before linking his arm with Magnus and grinning at him as they head out of the door.

"Taako rushes in," he says.

And he does.

===

Magnus cries at the ceremony.

No-one's surprised.

Kravitz does too, as Taako reads surprisingly heartfelt and honest vows; only because he's so close does Magnus see Taako tear up when Kravitz reads his. 

He sees Lup smiling with tears in her eyes, her bridesmaid dress far flashier than Taako's unexpectedly simple one; and by her side, Barry - her husband as of last year, for the twentieth time, in the twentieth reality - beams as his brother-in-law says _I do_ and dips Kravitz in a searing kiss before Merle's even finished saying _you may now kiss your husband_. 

In the front row, Angus started sobbing before the ceremony began and continues all the way through; Davenport watches with a soft, joyful smile. The rest of the guests, those Magnus knows and those he doesn’t, lie somewhere between the two, and all of them cheer when Taako kisses Kravitz.

They all head into the hall where the celebrations are to take place, where drink will flow and food – not as good as Taako’s cooking, but pronounced by him as _acceptable_ \- will be bountiful. 

Magnus watches through the day and night, as the happy couple have their first dance and cut the beautiful cake made by Lup; watches Taako put his flower crown on Kravitz's head, and watches Kravitz leave it there, pleased. He watches Taako and Lup dance, watches her kiss his forehead and hug him so, so tightly.

And he sees Taako grab Kravitz's hand and admire their wedding rings glinting gold in the candlelight; sees the way Taako leans against Kravitz at the end of the long night. It makes his heart ache, a little from the similarity to his own wedding but mostly from seeing his friends so _happy;_ from getting to be a part of their joy.

As the night draws to a close and everyone says their goodbyes, Taako comes over to stand by Magnus’s side and says, quiet,

"Not bad, huh?"

"It’s been a beautiful day, Taako. I'm so happy for you both; you deserve this."

"Yeah, yeah," Taako says, smacking him on the arm. "You're sappier than my husband, swear to god," he says, and smiles over at Kravitz, who's talking to someone Magnus doesn't know - one of his own guests, Magnus assumes - and still wearing Taako’s flower crown. 

"You ready for that happy ending?"

"Oh honey, you have _no_ idea," he says, winking, and he sounds so salacious that Magnus finds himself blushing. 

"How about I clear out the rest of the guests so you can, ah, get to it?"

"Please do, there's a good best man."

Magnus does, and by the time he turns back to Taako, he's already kissing Kravitz, hands firmly on his ass, and Magnus snorts. 

It’s a very Taako end to the wedding. 

Lup and Barry are the last ones there and she pulls Taako away for one last hug, saying something that makes him snort with laughter before she grabs Barry’s hand and waves, promising to make breakfast for everyone in the morning. 

"So," Magnus says, coming over to them when they’re the only ones left in the room. "Am I the best best man or what?"

"The very best," Taako says, and kisses his cheek, giving him another hug - Magnus is pretty sure this is a century's worth of Taako-hugs here, all in one day. It's even better when Taako grabs Kravitz and pulls him in too; he laughs and joins in, wrapping an arm around of each of them. "Thank you. Seriously," he says, and Kravitz echoes him.

"You're welcome. Seriously. Now get out of here - go have that happy ending."

"Oh, we will," Taako says, and grabs Kravitz's hand, pulling him away. Both of them wave, then head back to their room, leaning against each other, making each other laugh.

And then Magnus is alone, in a room still full of love.

He lifts a hand and looks at his wedding ring, runs his thumb over it, and thinks of happy ever afters past and present, and maybe future. 

And with one last smile, he leaves the room.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been ill this week and struggled with writing my wips, but this appeared out of the ether, unplanned. It's nice when that happens. Thank you for reading - I hope you enjoy :)
> 
> You can find me on [tumblr](http://raininginadelaide.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/adelaide_rain).


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